The Life of a Happy Remote DBA

Life is a balancing act between the personal and professional. It is a journey and this journey should be filled with joy and happiness. It should also give you a chance to learn, to grow and to cherish moments, spending quality time with kids, spouses, parents and loved ones. I am thankful that my life is what I consider a happy life. This is because I can easily balance my work and my personal life. This is all because I work at Pythian. For that matter, this is how most of us work at Pythian. In this post, I will share my journey to becoming a happy remote DBA.

In March 2011, I joined Pythian. Since then, I have been enjoying my personal life and my career equally, though sometimes, I enjoy my personal life even more than my career. This has happened just because I work at Pythian.

In 2010, I left my job to live with my ageing parents in my native country, India. When looking for work, the problem was that in India, there weren’t any good IT companies, especially ones that understood the need for a Microsoft SQL Server DBA (MS SQL DBA). I was a very active participant in various technical forums in those days and that’s where I was first introduced to Michelle Gutzait. She was a technical editor of the MS SQL section of a website where I wanted my article to get published. And Michelle introduced me to Pythian. Believe me, the interview was tough, I was interviewed by Michelle, Warner Chaves , Igor Raytsin and Chris Presley.

I enjoy my work at Pythian very much, and do you know why? Let me tell you. I work remote from my home in India and this allows me to spend quality time with my family. This is what I wished for, what I wanted and it has come true. It is the joy of living with family, watching kids grow, and playing with them when they want you to play with them. Helping your parents and spouse when they need you. It is possible to do this AND work as a remote DBA. The only difference between a traditional company and Pythian is that in most cases, you are able to work from home. Pythian is a company where you are heard as an employee, your valid suggestions matter and they are implemented. Pythian is a company where you can have the opportunity for growth in both ways – horizontal and vertical. As a remote DBA, I have project work, work generated by a pager, directed training, time allocated for blogging, vacation days, etc. And I am enjoying all this right here, sitting at my desk in my home. Cool, isn’t it?!!

When I first joined Pythian, my daughter was two years old. She’s 10 now. I have seen her grow, played with her and believe me, those were the most beautiful years of life. It is these memories I will cherish when I grow old, and I will be able to do so because I have the luxury to work from home. I can go on and on, writing about these benefits and how happy I am, but I have to stop here as I think I will fall short of words. At Pythian, life is happy because the employees are happy.

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About the Author

I am a Database Administrator by profession, and a student at a university called life by heart.
I am passionate about SQL Server, photography, reading and sharing. Currently, I'm Data Platform Consultant @Pythian. I have been a Microsoft SQL Server MVP for four years, and a published author of the book - SQL Server 2008 High Availability.
Keep in touch with me on twitter @hemantgirig

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